Gita 1.32

Sadhak: "Guruji, Arjuna says he doesn't want victory, kingdom, or pleasure. But if he wins the war, won't he get all those anyway? Why refuse in advance what hasn't been offered?"

Guru: "He's not refusing a gift—he's recognizing a poison dressed as a gift. Imagine winning a lottery after your entire family dies in the same moment. The money arrives, but what do you feel? Joy? Or the sickening realization that you'd trade every rupee to undo what happened?"

Sadhak: "So the kingdom and victory would be real, but they'd feel hollow?"

Guru: "Not hollow—haunted. Every throne has a price. Arjuna suddenly sees the price tag on this one. And he's not willing to pay it. That's not weakness—that's seeing."

Sadhak: "He calls Krishna 'Govinda'—the giver of pleasure. But then says he doesn't want pleasure. Isn't that contradictory?"

Guru: "Beautifully noticed. It's the contradiction of a devotee in crisis. 'You are supposed to give me happiness, but I can no longer receive it. You are the fulfiller of desires, but I have no desires left.' This is intimate accusation disguised as praise. Have you never cried out to God in this way?"

Sadhak: "Yes... when my father died, I asked what was the point of all my success if he wasn't there to see it."

Guru: "Exactly Arjuna's state. Every achievement acquires its meaning from those we love. Remove them, and achievement becomes absurd. This is why the Gita will ultimately teach that meaning cannot depend on external results—but Arjuna needs to fall completely before he can hear that."

Sadhak: "He even questions life itself—'what use is life?' Is he suicidal?"

Guru: "Not suicidal in the clinical sense—he doesn't want to die. But he's experiencing the death of meaning, which can feel worse than physical death. 'What is the point of living?' is not 'I want to die.' It's 'I need a reason to live, and I've just lost mine.'"

Sadhak: "So this question—'what's the point?'—is actually spiritually important?"

Guru: "It's the most important question. Most people never ask it because they're too busy chasing things. Arjuna, forced by circumstances to stop chasing, finally asks. And the entire Gita exists to answer him. You don't get the answer until you genuinely ask the question."

Sadhak: "But isn't renouncing desire supposed to be good? The Gita later praises it."

Guru: "There's renunciation from wisdom and renunciation from despair. They look similar but are completely different. Arjuna's desires have collapsed—that's not the same as transcending them. He will need to rebuild a reason to act that doesn't depend on desire. That's the teaching to come."